Apologies and responsibility

[msbeadsley]

No: HPFGUIDX 139312

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Lady Indigo:
<There are only two things which bother me about Harry, who I
otherwise love as a character: his anger, which continues to reach
dangerous levels even when we're down to the last book, and his
tendency to do a lot of rulebreaking without much remorse or learning
from his mistakes. I'm not talking about necessary rulebreaking, like
the SS/PS stuff, or rulebreaking to fight against unfair things, like
going to Hogsmeade in PoA.

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Harry's anger...well, considering the things he's been through since
he was in diapers (do baby wizards and witches wear diapers; boy,
there's an area magic could help!), he *should* be angry. Maybe not as
angry as he was in OoP, but I (and some others) chalk this up to the
Voldemort connection. In HPB (which really is Snape's book, in many
ways), Harry really focuses all his anger on Snape, making him a
scapegoat (a largely deserving scapegoat, more and more as the book
progresses, but still). Harry needs to pass or pass through those
tendencies eventually, but I think it will all prove to have been a
sort of tempering forge. Regardless of who's evil and why, or who's
good and why, the fact that Harry has all this rage and hate has to be
and will be resolved at some point.

But the real reason I had to come back to this thread is what you said
about "...his tendency to do a lot of rulebreaking without much
remorse or learning from his mistakes. I'm not talking about necessary
rulebreaking..."

And Harry is supposed to tell the difference between "necessary
rulebreaking" and "rulebreaking without much remorse or learning from
his mistakes" how, exactly? He is supposed to know "necessary" and "to
fight against unfair things" (like Umbridge, whom he opposes at the
risk of being eventually imprisoned) from where he should refrain or
have remorse because--um, why, exactly?

In our reading of much of what he does...letting a more intellectual
friend ghostwrite some of his homework, sneaking out at night, making
his way (and encouraging his friends to go, too) through safeguards
and barriers put up by the authorities, hiding (he thinks) his
Parseltongue ability, kidnapping a teacher (Lockhart, who needed
kidnapping, of course) with one of those same friends, determining
what it means to "use it well" and doing so with regards to his dad's
Invisibility Cloak, taking advantage of Hermione's timeturner to foil
no less an authority than the Wizarding government in a couple of
regards, taking ownership of the Marauders' Map *twice*, the many
instances of unfair advantage given him in the international
tournament (which he went into, much like life, with innumerable
inherent disadvantages), the only real guide WE as readers have about
whether or not any particular instance of rulebreaking was advisable
or not is how it works out in the end. Of course, Harry stinks at
Divination...

And, as has been said, this is a kid raised (more like lowered, I'd
say) by Petunia and Vernon Dursley...not to mention the outright
praise (and outright ENCOURAGEMENT: see Invisibility Cloak; see
Timeturner) Harry receives (from the best guide to good in the books,
Albus Dumbledore, per JKR) again and again for outcomes which are
inescapably a direct *result* of rulebreaking. (And while his dip into
Snape's thoughts in the Pensieve was, yes, rude, sneaky,
inappropriate, and cause for an apology, it wasn't actually inspired
by anything personal; Harry, as he's done throughout the series, was
looking for information on/tools to help with the conundrum of the
moment, wherever and however they became available.) And I would no
more have expected Harry to give up that Potions textbook (although he
did offer to share, something he has never failed at) than any of the
other bits and bobs providence has provided him since his arrival at
Hogwarts.

Can you guide me through what you mean, otherwise, please?

Sandy aka msbeadsley